UNCASVILLE >> The welcoming reception from the Mohegan Sun Arena crowd meant the world to Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, but it was the victory in their first professional game in Connecticut that resonated most with the two former UConn stars.

Neither Dolson nor Hartley played major roles in visiting Washington’s 74-66 victory over the Connecticut Sun before a crowd of 5,014 as veterans Ivory Latta, Monique Currie and Kia Vaughn did most of the damage especially down the stretch.

“Obviously we played tough tonight as a team. Six games in we are learning how each other plays and starting to click,” Dolson said. “Different things are getting better each game, so it is good, and it is nice to get a win in Connecticut.

“I think (the Sun) came out in the second half with a lot of pressure, they made a lot of shots right away. I think it threw us off a little bit, but overall we responded and we are learning something new each game. In this game it was how to respond to a run and it is something that we have to get better at, and this game helped us a lot.”

Advertisement

Hartley, who teamed with Dolson to lead UConn to national titles as a junior and senior, got the start and scored all six of her points from the free-throw line. Dolson finished with six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots as Washington improved to 4-2.

With the Sun “sleepwalking” according to head coach Anne Donovan, Washington was able to build up an 11-point lead in the first half. The Sun rallied to regain the lead on an Allison Hightower 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, and the Sun took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter,

However, as they did in the first and third quarters, the Sun couldn’t create any offense in the fourth quarter and victory eluded their grasp.

“We are learning how to play off of each other,” said Katie Douglas, who had 11 points for the Sun. “I think we are struggling how to do that. It is coming. For myself I need to do a better job of knocking down shots when I get open, and I think everybody knowing what we had to do. Tonight we didn’t do enough. We kind of dug ourselves a hole and didn’t have enough energy and enough details at the end to be able to get this win tonight.”

Vaughn led the Mystics with 16 points, while Latta and Currie added 12 points each.

Dolson and Hartley had a chance to meet up with their UConn teammates on Wednesday night and they returned the favor by sitting behind one of the baskets during Wednesday’s game. They will have a chance to reconnect some more when the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams are honored during a ceremony at the White House on Monday afternoon.

After creating quite the stir by teaming with Kiah Stokes to give President Obama “bunny ears” in a team shot, Dolson claims she will “go with the flow. I am not forcing anything.”